MS is testing an optional onboarding experience that lets users install third-party apps.

Windows 11’s setup process now ends by offering to install apps such as TikTok and Netflix on a new PC. MS calls the feature Assisted Setup. It began rolling out gradually to Insiders in the Experimental channel with Build 26340.9354, released on September 8.

Windows 11 setup already promotes MS 365, Xbox Game Pass, OneDrive, and Phone Link through promotional cards. In March, MS promised that setup would become “quieter and more streamlined, with fewer pages and reboots.” Assisted Setup delays its app suggestions until setup is complete and presents them through an optional desktop flow, which is a reasonable compromise.

At the end of the out-of-box experience (OOBE), users may be asked whether they want additional help setting up their PC. Although this may sound unnecessary to experienced users, it could help less technically confident users avoid seeking outside assistance.

How Guided Setup Works

Choosing to continue takes users to the desktop, where the Get Started app opens and guides them through several onboarding tasks. If users choose to go directly to the desktop, Guided Setup will not open automatically. However, it remains accessible at any time through the Get Started app. This experience also appears to be rolling out server-side.

The final OOBE screen, “Your PC is ready,” now presents two options. “Show optional setup” offers to install apps and pin websites to the taskbar, while “Go to desktop” skips the process and notes that the same steps will remain available later in Get Started.

Both options take users to the desktop, but only the first automatically opens the Get Started app. The app greets users by name and guides them through several pages.

After OOBE, the Get Started app becomes the hub for the remaining onboarding steps. MS has also updated its graphic, with the illustrated laptop now showing a more recent version of the Windows 11 desktop.

The first page, “Add popular apps to your device,” lists WhatsApp, Duolingo, TikTok, Netflix, LinkedIn, and Spotify, along with a link for browsing other options in the MS Store. During testing, TikTok, Netflix, and Spotify were selected, and all three downloaded within Get Started. Each app changed to an “Installed” label when the process was complete.

Installing three apps without opening the MS Store is faster than the usual process on a new PC. However, MS does not explain why these six apps qualify as “popular picks.”

MS first introduced these pages in August with Build 26340.9212. The refreshed Get Started app was later shipped to Windows 11 24H2 and 25H2 through the September 2026 Patch Tuesday update. Assisted Setup adds the step in which Windows automatically opens the app at the end of setup.

The next page offers ten websites that can be pinned to the taskbar. On a test PC configured for the UK, the list reflected the regional setting by including BBC, Amazon UK, eBay UK, and the Daily Mail alongside YouTube, Reddit, Facebook, Instagram, X, and Wikipedia.

After Wikipedia was selected, its icon immediately appeared on the taskbar. A field for entering a custom website would have been useful, as frequently visited sites may not appear on MS’s list.

The “Change your look” page helps users choose between light and dark modes and select accent colors. Its button opens the Personalization page in Settings, which may be helpful for first-time Windows users.

The update page states that some PC features “need to be updated before they’re ready to go” and provides a Check for updates button. Ironically, MS added an option in April to skip updates during setup so users could reach the desktop faster, yet the post-setup flow now asks them to return and install those updates.

The final page, “You’re all set,” links to aka.ms/windows-tips and offers to open the website in the user’s browser.

Visiting the website is optional, so users can simply close the window.

Guided Setup brings several common first-day tasks into a single optional flow. Instead of requiring users to find apps, websites, updates, and personalization controls independently, Windows 11 can introduce these options immediately after setup.

The experience remains optional, but it gives MS a more structured way to help users configure a new PC and discover useful features from the outset.

Windows 11 Also Gets a Tips Widget for the Lock Screen and Widgets Board

MS deprecated the Tips app in 2023 and removed it from Windows 11 24H2. The September 2026 optional update, KB5124010, now brings tips back as a widget available through both the Widgets board and the lock screen.

MS says the Tips widget “provides short, helpful guidance about Windows features.”

Users can add it through Settings > Personalization > Lock screen or by selecting the Add widget button on the Widgets board. It joins options such as Weather, Watchlist, Sports, and Clipchamp.

The preview in the widget picker suggested the emoji panel shortcut, Windows key + period, while the widget on the test lock screen explained clipboard history, accessed with Windows key + V. Both are useful features that every Windows user should know.

Selecting “More productivity tips” opens MS’s Productivity Tips page in Edge.

The new Tips widget can be pinned to both locations. Selecting a tip opens the Windows Tips website or directly launches the relevant feature or experience.

MS recently reduced the default lock screen widgets to Weather alone to make Windows 11 quieter. Because Tips is opt-in, it does not reverse that cleanup. KB5124010 is optional, so most PCs should receive the widget with the October 13 Patch Tuesday update.

Assisted Setup is also optional and easy to skip. However, after promising a calmer Windows experience with fewer upsells, the first apps Windows 11 recommends on a new PC are TikTok and Netflix. This raises the question of whether the experience truly reflects MS’s vision of a quieter setup.

Nevertheless, these changes show that MS is working to make users aware that their favorite apps are available on Windows, provide easier access to useful websites, and highlight practical tips that could improve the Windows 11 experience.

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